A wise woman told me:
“Everything is in God.
“Everything people are looking for, God has it. If people are needing comfort, God is the Great Comforter. If people are needing love and affection, God is Love. Even food and drink and money, God provided for it. Whether people realize it or not, everyone is actually looking for God.”
That struck me as really profound. It’s so easy to get lost in the trees looking for the forest.
Even this week, writing these articles, I found myself searching for the words. Sitting in front of an open laptop, I earnestly searched for what to say. Needing a fresh testimony of God, and inspiration.
In the middle of my search, I felt a still, small Voice speak to my heart:
“You keep looking for the words. But what you need is the Author.”
So I closed the laptop. “God, what would You want to say to me?”
I felt moved to read Romans. As I read, God kept speaking to me about a brand new life He wants to give to me.
God gives us a brand new life the moment we choose to walk with Him. I can look at my life and see big changes. It’s wonderful.
But that brand new life isn’t just for starters.
It’s CONSTANTLY new.
After all, “in the increase of [God’s] government and peace, there shall be no end…” Isaiah 9:7.
God’s kingdom is like the iPhone. You always need the latest and greatest to keep up.
That night, God spoke to me through a dream.
I was asked to be the spokesperson for an underground spy operation.
“I’ll have to be someone completely new and innocent,” I told the recruiter. “All my life I’ve been defined by shame and regret. I’ll have to be different.”
I woke up knowing God was wanting to speak to me. And that was glorious! And the reason I’m sharing all of this is to say–the Author gave me the words!
I told God: “You said You would provide all my needs. I need a certain amount of money to pay such-and-such bill this month, and I have no idea how to get that money for it. Is this true, or are You a liar?”
God didn’t seem to object to my challenge. I had listed something to sell over a year ago. Seemingly out of the blue, it sold. I was able to pay my bill.
So I challenged God the next month. “That was great, but now I have the bill again. You did say you would provide all my needs.”
A similar thing happened the next month. Another item I had listed to sell suddenly sold and paid my bills.
Month after month, God kept supplying my needs, as He said He would.
I got into a horrible accident. With a bruised shoulder, I remembered God’s words in the Bible:
“...with His stripes, we are healed”. (Isaiah 53:5)
Present tense. Right now. Boom – healed.
I decided to take God at His word again. I didn’t even ask for healing. I just took God at His word that it was already done.
I had barely been able to dress myself because of how bruised my shoulder was. The moment I started to praise God for healing me, my shoulder loosened like somebody had flipped a switch.
It seemed so sudden, I burst out laughing in surprise.
I stopped praising God, and my shoulder almost instantly tensed up again. Then I went back to praising God, and–again–my shoulder immediately loosened up again.
As I kept praising God, my shoulder stayed loose and never bound up again.
The underground church often thrives in Communist countries.
Why? That’s because in the face of intense persecution, you have to know whether this faith you believe is going to come through for you or not.
In the face of that pressure, believers take God at His word. And God shows up, miraculously!
With less pressure and more wealth like we live in, it’s easy to take God for granted and rely on our wallet to support us. And it’s easy to forget the reality of God.
But God is yearning to reveal Himself. He wants you to know how glorious life with Him can be.
He wants to show you the “breadth and length and depth and height” of His love for you.
Dare to step out. Dare to see Him for as He is.
No comments:
Post a Comment